Welcome to the start of a new year of Songwriters in Seattle podcasts! If this first one is any indication, 2012 is going to be a great year for us, as our recent songwriting contest winner, Charlie Heinemann joins me in the studio for great music and discussion. Charlie has some unique songwriting insight and humor to go along with it!

After we get to know Charlie a little bit more at the beginning of the podcast, we dive right into his contest winning song, “LA (is Totally Awesome).” Those clever lyrics are no accident, and he talks of his study of rhetoric (which I didn’t realize was something one could study, but sure enough…) and other influences that drive his writing and storytelling. A little satirical humor/wordplay and unexpected phrasing really go a long way toward making Charlie’s songs so engaging and entertaining.

Charlie's album Disheartened with his band The Repeat Offenders

We then talk about his band The Repeat Offenders and their album Disheartened. The arrangements are very well done, complement the songs, groove nicely, and overall make the songs easy to listen to. This is an album that has appeal on so many levels. Genre-wise, we’re talking Americana, that blend of alt country, folk, bluegrass and acoustic rock that has become so popular these days. They do it well and with a great attitude. This is an exciting band to watch so please visit their website and connect with them so you can keep tabs in the future.

Lastly, Charlie plays us a new song live in the studio called “High Mountain to Climb.” It is always great to have these unique versions of songs for the podcast and I’m really appreciative of Charlie for making that happen. Please go have a listen to the podcast and enjoy!!

Chris has been hosting the podcast for Songwriters in Seattle since mid-2010. Also featured on www.songwritersinseattle.com

January, 2012
Americana singer/songwriter Charlie Heinemann is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. Charlie shares songwriting tips, songs from the album “Disheartened” with his band The Repeat Offenders, and plays a new song live.

Click the play icon above to stream, or click here to download

Subscribe to the SiS Podcast on iTunes

The final podcast of 2011 with my friend and very talented songwriter Adena Atkins is now available for your enjoyment – capping off a fantastic year of getting to know my fellow Songwriters in Seattle! If Adena’s name (and voice) sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve talked about her before as a guest vocalist on my song “Water Colors.” Adena recently released her first EP entitled The Slowest Curve which is a collection of pop/electronica songs representing the seasons. As it is a complete “song cycle” (i.e. they all fit together as somewhat of a single, larger piece), we talk about and play the whole EP during the podcast. What a wonderful holiday gift for Adena to share!

We talk a lot about her influences that range from painting to opera and how she got from the west coast to east coast and back again to settle into Seattle. After a year in the Pacific NW she has started to gain some momentum and have her talents recognized by industry professionals. It will be exciting to see where The Slowest Curve leads her as her music career takes off in 2012! I would highly encourage you to keep an eye on her blog as she is also a talented writer who always has something interesting to say – her passion for the arts comes through in everything she does.

Chris & Adena in the studio

To learn more about Adena, please go to http://www.adenaatkins.com and then follow her links there to connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, her blog and more. Also, click here to purchase The Slowest Curve directly on iTunes.

Now go have a listen to the podcast and enjoy!!

Chris has been hosting the podcast for Songwriters in Seattle since mid-2010. Also featured on www.songwritersinseattle.com

December, 2011
Electronica art song singer/songwriter Adena Atkins is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. They dive into the four songs of her EP “The Slowest Curve” and her many art form influences.

Click the play icon above to stream, or click here to download

Subscribe to the SiS Podcast on iTunes

My November podcast was a ton of fun as my guest, Jennifer Cadence, has both a great sense of humor and great insight into the music business. Oh, and she’s a fantastic singer/songwriter as well! Multi-talented, indeed. I always come away feeling enlightened whenever I’m in touch with Jennifer, as she always seems to have a few golden nuggets of info that I had never heard before. In this podcast, we not only talk about her new EP Mr. Universe, but she brought a list of five essential tips every musician should follow to help you succeed in reaching your goals. You’ve got to give this a listen and take notes!

We also discuss her challenges with defining her genre as pop, but remaining outside the Britney Spears imagery which would follow that kind of label. How’d she do it? By defining her own descriptive label: “Sapphire Blues.” It’s pop with soul and sass – take a listen and I think you’ll find it a pretty appropriate description. We talk about and play 3 songs from her EP: The title track “Mr. Universe,” “Fallout,” and “Dirt On Your Shoes” (with a great story behind that one!).

To learn more about Jennifer, please go to http://www.jennifercadence.com and then follow her links there to connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. Also, click here to purchase Mr. Universe on iTunes.

Now go have a listen to the podcast and enjoy!

Chris has been hosting the podcast for Songwriters in Seattle since mid-2010. Also featured on www.songwritersinseattle.com

November, 2011
“Sapphire Blues” pop artist Jennifer Cadence is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. They discuss the origins of her unique pop sound, her new EP “Mr. Universe,” and she gives 5 music business tips all musicians should follow.

Click the play icon above to stream, or click here to download

Subscribe to the SiS Podcast on iTunes

Whether you call him “The Wanz,” “TeeWanz” or just Michael Wansley, you’ll find that this is a Seattle R&B/Hip Hop/Soul artist with a ton of talent. With a beautiful, smooth singing voice, infectious modern beats, and mature songwriting chops, Wanz has evolved his approach from funk rock bands in the 90′s to a one man non-stop mobile production house these days.

This is a guy with some great stories and an understated sense of humor. What a fun podcast this was! Unfortunately, he has so many stories I had to cut some to get the podcast closer to the 1/2 hour target length. This will no doubt make for some great additional material in the future! But don’t worry – there’s still an overtime’s worth of discussion along with three of his newer tracks to get a taste for his style and substance.

You can also go straight to his Reverbnation site for more by clicking http://teewanz.com. He is yet another great example of the variety of talent and experience we have in the Seattle area and as part of Songwriters in Seattle. Many thanks to The Wanz for taking the time out to chat and share his music. Go have a listen!

Chris and TeeWanz doing the podcast

Chris has been hosting the podcast for Songwriters in Seattle since mid-2010. Also featured on www.songwritersinseattle.com

October, 2011
R&B/Hip Hop/Soul artist Michael “The Wanz” Wansley is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. They discuss his long musical history in Seattle, his new songwriting and production process, and his evolution as a musician.

Click the play icon above to stream, or click here to download

Subscribe to the SiS Podcast on iTunes

I don’t usually want to tease too much about music I’ve finished and won’t release for a while, but since my last update was a bit of a downer, I hope you’ll excuse a little excess excitement! Since I wrote that a number of weeks ago – and to remind you I was back to having no songs finished for the new album – I’ve been working like crazy to catch back up. So the good news I want to share with you is that I have five songs finished now! You may remember previously I had four – and the cool thing is I still have one of the old ones to update, so that means I’ve finished two new ones. I feel I’m making some progress now!

The whole idea in re-visiting some of these was to improve the quality, right? You may wonder how that part of the process is going…well that’s where it gets interesting. But before I get into that, I want to share a story from way back that I was reminded of last weekend: During my pre-teen through college years, I was a huge Van Halen fan. To give you an idea, Eddie posters covered my room walls for over a decade. Anyway, I read an interview during the making of one of their albums where they were hootin’ and hollerin’ and carry on about how they were measuring how good they were doing by how the hair on their arms tingled and stood when they listened (and anyone else who’d listen). They’d call to each other “Show him your arm!” I remember thinking how cool that would be – to listen and have your body tingle in response – but as they were usually drunk and carrying on about something or other anyway, I considered it as much hype as anything, though the interviewer played along nicely.

Now, because I’m a poor judge of my recordings right when I finish one – I always like them at the time (or else I wouldn’t call it finished) – I’m skeptical about my own excitement. I had my friend Jessica Lynne over on Saturday to do my latest podcast and we had a little extra time when we had finished recording. She was really interested to hear the difference between the old and the new, so I played her the one song she’s most familiar with – “Water Colors.” Somewhere in the middle of the first chorus she turns to me with big eyes and gives me a “Whoa!” and tells me her arms are tingling. Her excitement carried through the rest of the playthrough. Wow! Now I’m pumped – confirmation of the fur raising nature of these new mixes. Thanks Jessica! I think I might be onto something special here, and I can’t wait to play the results of this effort for you all.

There’s more to say about what this album is meaning to me as an artist and the focused vision I feel I am finally realizing after 20+ years. I will save that for a later post as we start getting closer to the time when I can give you a listen. Thank you for indulging me in sharing my early excitement!

When Jessica Lynne brought her stunning voice to the Pacific Northwest from Denmark a year ago, little did she know how involved she would become with Songwriters in Seattle. But she quickly jumped right in with both feet and took fast action to kickstart her country music career and connect with other musicians here in the states. What a year it’s been! Her newly minted EP, Spiritual Cowgirl, is a great representation of what Jessica can accomplish and is no doubt the beginning of even bigger and better things to come for her musically.

Don't mess with Jessica!

Even though most of you who know me know I’m not a big country music fan, Jessica’s charming voice and engaging songwriting are near irresistible. She’s a fighter and a winner with the confidence of a seasoned veteran! She is becoming an active regular on the NW performance scene as well. You’ll get a taste of what she sounds like when she plays live as she did a version of “Fallen Angels Don’t Fly” (in one take, I might add) for the podcast! Look for upcoming show dates on her website. She has such a fun and warm personality, too, I think you will really enjoy her on this podcast. But don’t take my word for it, go take a listen!

Jessica & Chris in the studio